The food business is a peculiar one; not all people like everything. People from one place may like Chinese, while others would prefer Italian or Indian cuisine.
This is what is cool about pizza because it is one of the foods that is beloved around the world.
This is also why pizza businesses thrive anywhere and present a great opportunity for people who dream of entering the food industry someday.
Many industry insiders believe that right now is a great time to start a pizza business because technology has made it much easier to learn about the industry and reach customers.
They say that things like online ordering and social media have made starting a pizza delivery business simpler than it was a few years ago.
And with this blog, we aim to guide those people who wish to enter the food industry and set up their own pizza delivery business.
Here we’ll tell you how you can:
- Start small to evaluate the business's potential
- Register your pizza delivery business to make it official
- Set up the pizza delivery business
- Improve the reach of your pizza delivery business
This guide can also help home cooks who already run a pizza delivery business on a small scale find out how to take it further. So keep reading to learn more.
Creating a Pizza Delivery Business Plan
Before delving into topics like purchasing pizza ovens and other kitchen equipment, let's establish the foundation of setting up your pizza business, which is creating a solid food-delivery business plan.
In the food industry, exceptional food is a must-have, not a differentiator. Once you check that off your list, everything hinges on a well-crafted plan.
This plan will detail everything, including:
- Your initial menu offerings
- The business model you'll operate under
- Your budget and expected profits
- Your unique selling proposition (USP)
- Your marketing strategies
To understand how to make your pizza business stand out, the first step is to do some market research.
This means diving deep into what other pizza places are doing. What are they doing well, and where are there gaps in the market that you could fill? Learn from what works and what doesn't.
As you learn about other businesses, you'll start to see how they've succeeded. Take a look at what makes them special.
For example, think about Domino's famous 30-minute delivery guarantee. It caught people's attention and made them stand out.
Fast delivery might not be your thing, so figure out what makes your business unique. Will you offer pizzas with special toppings?
Maybe you'll cater to people with dietary restrictions by offering gluten-free or vegan options.
Or perhaps you'll focus on using local, organic ingredients.
Understand your competition and aim to fill in the gaps in the industry. With that, you can prepare a comprehensive pizza delivery business plan.
Start Small and Test the Waters
Many pizza business owners started from the base of their own house. Their initial channel to reach customers was Instagram and received orders through DMs and calls through their personal phone numbers.
At present, many of these home cooks have grown to establish their own pizzerias and multiplied their business which is truly impressive. Their advice to those who want to start their own business is always to start small and grow into it.
So by taking what they say into account, there are a few things you can do to test the waters before you go full-on with the business.
Come up with a short but exceptional menu.
Try a pop-up business strategy to decide on the locatio
Practice social-media marketing to attract initial customers
1. Come Up With a Short But Exceptional Menu
As we mentioned earlier, when it comes to the food business, the quality of the food must be your top priority if you want to focus on growing in the industry. And for that, the first thing you need to do is get your recipes straight.
Many people in the pizza business believe that keeping the menu small and just doing what you do best is better than having an extensive menu that is not good.
As long as everything you offer is good, no matter how little it is, it's going to bring in more people to you. But if something on your menu is not impressive, it's going to drive away people from the business.
So when you are starting, keep your pizza menu short but make it the best pizzas that your customers will ever taste.
2. Try the ‘Pop-up Business Strategy’ to Find Your Ideal Location
Another thing you can do to “test the waters” is to try a pop-up business model.
Not all people like all kinds of pizzas, some neighbourhoods may have people who love Sicilian pizzas while others may prefer Detroit. If you specialize in one kind of pizza but the people in your locality are not very fond of it, It will be a bad idea to set up your business there.
In this case, you can move to different neighbourhoods to find the people who appreciate the kinda of pizzas that you make.
Use the pop-up pizza business model and sell where there is a demand for your pizza for a few days. See if the consumer base is good enough to move your business there.
If you're getting positive feedback and people can't resist but savour your pizza, you can settle down there.
3. Practice Small-scale Marketing to Gauge Customer Interest
Another common thing that most pizza cooks have shared is how much social media channels have helped them gain an initial customer base.
Starting A Pizza Business From Home: How Sean Started - source for most of this section
Platforms like Instagram and TikTok allow small pizza businesses to share captivating content about their business online. This helps them attract people to their business and gain valuable feedback on their pizzas.
Pizza is a very aesthetically pleasing food, so you can post attractive images of your pizza to stop people from scrolling past them.
Another thing you can do is search for geo-tagged posts in your area, particularly those with high levels of engagement (likes, comments, and shares). With this, you can find individuals with a significant following in your local community.
Reach out to these people and offer them your pizza as a promotion. Ask them to share it with their followers online. This can help you reach a wide audience in your locality.
Register Your Pizza Delivery Business and Obtain Permits
Imagine you have your business plan ready and know what works for your pizza delivery business. Now will be the time to register your business.
There are five business structures under which you can register your pizza delivery business, they are:
- Sole Proprietorship
- Partnership
- Limited Liability Company (LLC)
Different businesses have different requirements and different tax structures. Check with a legal expert to find out which structure is most suitable for your business.
You will also need several permits to operate a business in the food service industry. Some of the common ones include:
- Food Service Licence
- Sales Tax Permit
- Health Department Permit
- Fire Departement Permit
Likewise, if you plan to hire someone to deliver pizzas, you’ll also need a delivery vehicle permit.
To know about the specifications and apply for the permits you need, you can check with your state’s website or hire legal personnel to do the work for you.
Set Up Your Pizza Delivery Business
Once the legalities are out of the way, you can start setting up your pizza delivery business. This process includes:
- Finding the right location
- Equipment needs (ovens, prep stations, delivery bags)
- Setting up an efficient order-taking system (web and/or app)
- Hiring qualified employees (cooks and delivery drivers)
1. Finding the Right Location
If you're planning to start a pizza delivery business, you won't need a big space like dine-in restaurants do. Instead, you just need a good kitchen.
The size of your kitchen doesn't matter as long as it meets all the legal rules for safety and health.
In some places, you can even use your home kitchen for your business, but this depends on the rules of your state. Some states are okay with it as long as your kitchen is up to standard, while others might require you to have a professional kitchen space.
Make sure to check what your local laws say. It's a good idea to work with local real estate agents to help find the best spot for your kitchen.
2. Get the Needed Equipment
Once you’ve picked the perfect spot for your kitchen, the next step is to stock it with the right tools.
You’ll definitely need pizza ovens since they're essential for making pizzas. Besides that, there are a few other things that’ll help you handle lots of orders more easily:
- Prep tables
- Dough mixers
- Dough dividers and storage
- Pizza pans and peels
- freezers and refrigerators
Think about what tools you need and which ones you might handle yourself. Find out more about the supplies needed to run a pizza delivery business and get the basics first, then add more as you see what your business needs.
3. Set Up an Order-Taking System
With the dough chilling in the fridge and everything ready in the kitchen, now it's time to think about how you'll get orders.
Taking phone calls is okay, but these days, most people like to order online. It's easier and more accurate.
So, how can you get orders online?
Many successful pizza businesses use technology like self-ordering kiosks for in-person orders (restaurants and take-out counters), but for delivery-focused businesses like yours, you need a way for people to order from far away.
And there is a very simple solution to this: join third-party on-demand delivery platforms in your area.
It may be Uber Eats, Doordash, Postmates, or any service that is popular in your locality.
When you do this, you have a means to take orders, and you just pay a cut out of what you make from the orders you receive.
Another advantage here is that the platform itself assigns you a delivery partner. So you don't have to pay someone to make deliveries, and the customers will cover the delivery fees themselves.
By using these platforms, you can handle these tasks effortlessly and have more time to focus on maintaining the quality of your food.
4. Hiring Qualified Employees
When you're starting, you might not need many helpers in the kitchen. But as your pizza business grows, you might need some extra hands for various tasks like:
- Making dough
- Keeping an eye on the oven
- Preparing sauces and toppings
- Packing orders
- Cleaning up
You can hire employees, or maybe get some friends or family to lend a hand if you prefer. Another option is to team up with other businesses or freelancers to get things done.
By finding the right help, you'll keep your pizza business running smoothly while you focus on making delicious pies.
Promoting Your Pizza Delivery Business
Once your pizza business is up and running, it's time to think about how to grow it even more.
Some may say that if you make good pizza, people will come. But nowadays, reaching people takes a bit more effort than just making good pizza.
Marketing is the secret ingredient that helps people find you easily. So, understand the importance of marketing your business and work to spread the word far and wide.
Think about the strategies to promote your food business on social media and other places where people hang out online to tell them about your delicious pizzas.
Another smart move is teaming up with other local businesses. For example, imagine teaming up with a local chicken shop famous for its wings to create a mouthwatering pizza-chicken wing combo.
That way, you can offer something extra special to your customers and reach even more people through the partnership.
By coming up with clever marketing strategies and partnering with other businesses, you'll grow your pizza business while you do what you do best.
Scaling with Your Pizza Delivery Business
Say you've comfortably settled in and are running your pizza delivery business smoothly. What’s next for your business?
Scaling is the answer. Think about what you need to do to grow further. You can start more branches of your pizza restaurant or turn it into a franchise.
Why not create a food delivery app for your pizza business?
If you create a food delivery business app, it can help you handle the orders you receive and manage all the branches you start on one platform.
You can even help other food businesses by allowing them to list on your app and gain a larger customer base through technology. This can even help you earn more revenue.
It might sound complicated, but if you think about it, Uber Eats has already done it.
They created a platform that allows people to order food from the listed restaurants and delegate the delivery task to freelance delivery partners.
That's a completely different model from what we have seen before.
This model has helped them generate revenue from the eaters, delivery partners, and stores on the platform.
If you take them as an example and innovate with their business model, you too can make money this way.
If you set up your food delivery business platform on this model, you can use it to manage the orders at all branches of your pizza restaurant chain.
You could also allow other food businesses in your locality to use the platform and earn a commission for every order they receive through it.
This model can also help you earn a service fee from both the eaters and the freelance delivery service providers.
Bust still, this model may not be an absolute requirement either, so you can think about your own business goals and decide how you want to proceed.
But, If you are thinking about how to create your pizza delivery business app, there are two ways: custom development or a ready-made solution.
Custom Development
Custom development is when you start from square one and create a platform just for your business. The process involves:
- Wireframing - Creating a simple visual guide to show the platform's structure and layout
- Designing - Adding visual components such as colours and graphics to the wireframe.
- Developing - Coding the platform's functional components per the design.
- Testing - Examining the platform for bugs and other problems.
For this, you hire a development firm and work with them to build the platform.
It can take a while and cost a bit, but in the end, you get exactly what you envisioned for your platform.
Readymade Solution
The other option to launch your pizza delivery business platform is choosing a ready-made solution.
To explain, ready-made solutions are pre-built apps and websites that a business can purchase, rebrand, and use for their business.
Also, since these ready-made solutions are pre-built and features are already there, these apps and websites are cost-effective, and they can be deployed in a short period.
You can even customise the solution to add unique features to it.
Now, when it comes to food delivery businesses, the ready-made solution that you could use are pre-built food delivery app solution that works similar to Uber Eats.
These food-delivery app solutions work by connecting three different users,
- The Customers
- The Delivery Partners
- The Restaurants
There will also be an admin who manages the platform and oversees the users.
So, you've got two options for setting up your platform. Now, it's time to think about what works best for your business.
Think about the cost of developing the food delivery app or website, how soon you need to start, and if you want any special features in your platform to decide which is the best choice for your business.
And in case you decide on a ready-made solution, do check out the ready-made solution for food delivery
WooberlyEats is our food delivery app solution that offers a customer app that allows people to efficiently place orders from wherever they are and a delivery partner app that helps restaurants link up orders to delivery partners.
There is also an admin panel that helps with the management of the platform, and since we offer 100% source code, you can customise the platform however you wish.
We have worked with many businesses in the on-demand industry, so we can help you launch your business platform the way you want to.
So if you have any queries on how WooberlyEats can help you launch your pizza business platform, reach out to us at [email protected].
We’ll be happy to answer all your questions.
Wrapping Up,
We have reached the end of the blog, and we hope you have found the information helpful.
Pizza is a beloved takeout/delivery food, and people believe a significant portion of Americans enjoy pizza at least once a week.
The demand is there, and with the right approach, you can turn your passion for pizza into a successful venture. So just focus on doing your thing and doing a little more to spread the word about your pizza.
Launch your Pizza Delivery App with Us!